Charles Dickens, son of John and Elizabeth Dickens, was born in Landport on 7 February 1812. John Dickens worked as a clerk in the Navy Pay Office in Portsmouth. He later found work in Chatham and Charles; the second of seven children, he attended the local school. Dickens's father, John Dickens, found it extremely difficult to provide for his family on his meager income. This forced the family to sell most of their assets, but this was not enough to satisfy his creditors and he ended up being arrested and thrown into Marshalsea Prison. Apparently his father was the inspiration for the character Mr. Micawber in "David Copperfield" and also in "Great Expectations" the character Magwitch is seen as a father figure who is a convict. Both characters were created and influenced by Dickens' past. Once his father was imprisoned, the entire family, apart from Charles, were sent to Marshalsea along with their patriarch. Charles was 12 when he was pulled out of school and sent to work in Warren's black factory and endured appalling conditions, loneliness and desperation. He said it was the most terrible time of his life and these experiences he endured were written in some of his works. Six months after being sent to Marshalsea, one of John Dickens' relatives died. He was left enough money in the will to pay off his debts and leave prison. After three long years Charles returned to school, but the experience and suffering he endured were never forgotten and were later fictionalized in two of his best-known novels "David Copperfield" and "Great Expectations". Part of the inheritance that Charles' father had that was given to me was used to have Charles educated in a nearby...half of paper......sion with my body tickled.” This shows us that Mrs. Joe is dominant and extremely rude. In conclusion Dickens manipulates the reader's emotions by using long, complex sentences broken by commas to describe people and surroundings, these vivid descriptions add emotion and can create atmosphere extremely well. He uses so many adjectives in his writing and along with the verbs it really captures the reader's imagination. Of all the characters in "Great Expectations" it is Pip who demands sympathy the most. In my opinion, I think Dickens does a very good job of generating the significant amount of sympathy he has for Pip. He also manages to create some sympathy for some of the other characters as well. Overall I think “Great Expectations” is a great, well-written novel with diverse and complex themes throughout.